Kathryn Rem: Diet soda connoisseur vouches for new Dr Pepper

Larry Estep opened the bottle of Diet Cherry Chocolate Dr Pepper, took a sip and reveled in the explosion of flavors.

Kathryn Rem

Larry Estep opened the bottle of Diet Cherry Chocolate Dr Pepper, took a sip and reveled in the explosion of flavors.

“It tastes like liquid chocolate. As you drink it, it has a lingering aftertaste like chocolate. I almost feel guilty drinking it,” he said.

Estep is something of a connoisseur when it comes to diet sodas. He used to down two or three bottles of full-sugar Mountain Dew a day. But in the last three years he’s lost more than 100 pounds, going from 429 to 310. Switching to diet pop is part of his strategy for cutting calories.

“Diet drinks help. It’s hard to get in the mindset of doing diet drinks. But now if I drink something sugary, it’s almost too sweet.”

He used to get a Diet Pepsi a few times a week.

“It was my one indulgence,” he said.

But not long ago he noticed some advertising for Diet Cherry Chocolate Dr Pepper. When the product finally arrived about two weeks ago, he bought a 20-ounce plastic bottle for $1.39.

“When you open up the bottle, the scent is like a box of chocolates,” he said. The drink, sweetened with aspartame, is calorie-free.

Estep, 34, has been talking it up whenever he can.

“People really, really like it or really, really hate it. Some take a sip and go ‘ewww.’ I will say the (reddish-brown) color is not very appealing.”

Lisa Casper, manager of a Speedway service station, said the Diet Cherry Chocolate Dr Pepper is “selling pretty good. It’s hard to keep in stock.”

To be fair, it’s one of the products in the store this month customers can buy to earn bonus points. The bonus points then can be redeemed for store merchandise or gift cards. That may contribute to its strong sales.

Dr Pepper, first made in 1885 in Waco, Texas, is the oldest major soft drink in the U.S. The formula, a closely guarded secret, was invented by Charles Alderton, a young pharmacist working for Morrison’s Old Country Drug Store. Bought by Cadbury Schweppes in 1995, Dr Pepper is the company’s biggest soft drink brand and the principal brand of the subsidiary Dr Pepper/Seven Up.

The cherry chocolate flavor (it only comes in diet) is a limited edition of Dr Pepper, which also comes in berries and cream and cherry vanilla. A spokeswoman for Cadbury Schweppes said the cherry chocolate is supposed to be available until mid-March. But consumer demand has been good, which may extend its availability.

Estep is hoping cherry chocolate will prove so popular that the company makes it a permanent addition to the Dr Pepper lineup. In fact, he hopes it will become a fountain drink.

But just in case it disappears from store shelves in the coming months, Estep is stocking up.

“I still like Diet Pepsi,” he said. “Now I have two indulgences.”

Food editor Kathryn Rem can be reached at 788-1520 or kathryn.rem@sj-r.com.